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UNM professors recognize, fight against malnutrition in New Mexico

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UNM professors recognize, fight against malnutrition in New Mexico


It’s about making per week of consciousness right into a every day apply.

College of New Mexico Vitamin and Dietetics professors Diana Gonzales-Pacheco and Debbie Luffey are combating in opposition to malnutrition in New Mexico.

Malnutrition is outlined as a scenario wherein the physique would not get sufficient vitamins, nutritional vitamins or minerals. Usually stemming from starvation, the imbalance may also additionally come from a poor eating regimen, digestive circumstances, or points absorbing vitamins.

Malnutrition Consciousness Week was launched by The American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Vitamin (ASPEN) in 2012. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued her personal proclamation for New Mexico for Sept. 19-23 of this yr.

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That was due to the collaborative efforts of Gonzales-Pacheco and Luffey inside the New Mexico Academy of Vitamin and Dietetics.

Consciousness, they are saying, isn’t just informing susceptible New Mexicans, like hospitalized sufferers, older adults, and folks of shade. It’s vital to handle the position of the Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) in addressing malnutrition, to enhance the dietary standing of high-risk populations.

Nonetheless, serving to the 1 in 8 folks, and 1 in 5 youngsters going through starvation takes greater than consciousness. Malnutrition prices New Mexico a further $92.5 million annually as a result of malnutrition-associated penalties. Each college members say it has to start out with motion within the classroom.

Debbie Luffey

In instructing Human Vitamin programs for well being careers majors, Luffey addresses the influence of malnutrition associated to well being outcomes to future New Mexico well being care suppliers.

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I really feel that instructing vitamin to undergraduate college students, who’re the longer term well being care professionals for our state, is vital to bettering each vitamin outcomes and general well being for New Mexico,” Luffey mentioned. The schooling they obtain now will translate into well being care professionals who acknowledge the position of vitamin in lots of features of well being and wellness.”

pacheco

Diana Gonzales-Pacheco

Gonzales-Pacheco, because the assistant director of the UNM Dietetic Internship Program, is a robust advocate for selling the position of the RDN in malnutrition consciousness in each the dietetic internship course of in addition to a School Champion within the UNM Interprofessional Training program. 

“It’s my perception that identification, therapy, and prevention of malnutrition will assist tackle well being disparities skilled by folks of shade. We’re coaching our dietetic interns to develop into expert in assessing malnutrition utilizing a wide range of medical instruments, together with the Vitamin Targeted Bodily Examination (NFPE), with the general purpose of improved affected person outcomes,” she mentioned.

 These UNM college members are working to make sure that UNM college students, as future well being care suppliers and RDNs within the state, play a job addressing this preventable situation to enhance affected person well being outcomes and the well being of New Mexicans.

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Be taught extra concerning the mission of the Vitamin and Dietetics Division on the School of Training and Human Science’s web site. 

 



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New Mexico

Rep. Hembree resigns of New Mexico Legislature

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Rep. Hembree resigns of New Mexico Legislature


SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – The New Mexico State Legislature announced the resignation of Representative Jared Hembree on Saturday. A press release states the Chaves County lawmaker is stepping down due to unforeseen health-related circumstances that need immediate attention.

“It is with a heavy heart that I step down from the State Legislature,” Rep. Hembree said in a statement. “Serving the people of my district has been a profound honor. My family and I believe in Chaves County, and we must prioritize my health to ensure that we can serve in good faith in the future.”

Opening day for the 2025 New Mexico Legislative Session is January 21.

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New Mexico

NM Gameday: Jan. 10

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NM Gameday: Jan. 10


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Advocates want New Mexico to track climate change’s impact on public health • Source New Mexico

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Advocates want New Mexico to track climate change’s impact on public health • Source New Mexico


Health care advocates and officials will renew efforts to track harm to New Mexicans’ health from climate disasters in the forthcoming legislative session.

Healthy Climate New Mexico, a nonprofit collective of health care professionals concerned about climate change, and nine other groups back two proposals to improve preparedness and adaptation to extreme weather driven by human-caused climate change.

The first would beef up a climate health program at New Mexico Department of Health to track health impacts from heat, wildfire smoke, drought, flooding, dust and severe storms. The second is a proposal to offer grant funds for local and tribal governments to better respond to weather disasters.

“Our bills are focused on adaptation and resilience, preparedness and collecting data, which is  essential in really knowing who’s at highest risk and where the solutions need to be applied, said Shelley Mann-Lev, the nonprofit’s executive director, who has decades of public health experience in New Mexico.

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Both require state funds. First, there’s $1.1 million for a climate health program to fund additional staff for the Department of Health; implement more warning systems; and increase communication between the department, the public and other state agencies.

The request for the Extreme Weather Resilience Fund would be $12 million. Advocates have said they’ll introduce two bills with sponsors in both the House and Senate, but neither was filed as of Friday, Jan. 10.

This would be the third time similar proposals have been brought before lawmakers, and Mann-Lev said there’s been increased support from both the governor’s office and members of the legislature.

A spokesperson from the New Mexico Department of Health declined to comment, saying it’s  policy to not speak about legislation proposed by outside groups. A spokesperson from the governor’s office declined to comment since the bills have not been formally introduced.

Sen. Liz Stefanics (D-Cerillos), who plans to sponsor the Senate legislation, and has introduced it before, said there seems to be more momentum and concern around the issues.

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‘Beyond the body counts’ 

Other groups supporting the bill include Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless, New Mexico Voices for children, four public health groups, including the American Lung Association, and two climate organizations.

Advocates note that climate disasters already harm and kill New Mexicans. Deaths and injuries from extreme heat are rising; floods across the state, including Roswell, raise concerns for mold development; smoke from wildfires harms lungs, especially for children and the elderly.

Preventable heat injuries and deaths rising in New Mexico

Stephanie Moraga-McHaley ran the environment health tracking program at the New Mexico Department of Health until her retirement in 2024.  She supports the bill because it could expand the current program, which tracks the raw numbers of deaths and injuries.

“There’s just so much that needs to be done besides the body counts,” said Stephanie Moraga-McHaley, who retired from the health agency in March. “We need to get some action in place, some coordination with other departments and communities in need.”

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Current numbers of impacted people are an undercount, said Nathaniel Matthews-Trigg, a Healthy Climate New Mexico board member and public health researcher.

Matthews-Trigg said New Mexico health officials have made improvements in tracking the number of heat injuries and deaths – which are difficult numbers to pin down – but there needs to be more funding and staff on board.

“We know from emergency department visits that they’re increasing dramatically due to extreme heat,” Matthews-Trigg said. “But, we also know how we’re tracking these is really just giving us a sliver of the actual impact of heat on our communities and on health.”

He said climate disasters pose the “greatest public health threat in our lifetimes,” and warned that impacts will only worsen if heating from fossil fuel emissions doesn’t slow.

“It’s not going to go away,” he said. “And we’re flying blind, without the surveillance.”

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